Since the soccer team had established itself pretty quickly with good standings, the next goal for the club would be to form a folklore group. A very intriguing idea since we had many youth members, born here in the United States, who through folklore, singing and dancing, would keep connections with their heritage and homeland. That is how, in mid 1982, a new folklore group was established. Our first choreographers were, Mauro Maricic, Anita Blaskovic and Lucijana Verbanac for singing. As well as Vlado Kirsic who lead the children with his accordion and Dinko (Mere) Milevoj on the pipes. Our first announced performance was that same year for the Christmas party and awaiting for the Santa Clause. The following year (1983), we had a few very successful and well anticipated performances, one being at the picnic of Club "Ucka" in Toronto, Canada. Our most memorable performance takes place in 1984, in the very famous and prestigious Vatroslav Lisinski auditorium in Zagreb, Croatia. This was our very first organized trip together to our homeland. We spent three memorable days touring around the beautiful capital, Zagreb, and its many historic landmarks. We also visited Marija Bistrica, Stubicke Toplice, and many other historic points of Zagorje, which we will always remember and cherish in our memories. Even today, we still converse of the good times we had on that trip. After Zagreb, comes our unforgettable show in Labin (Dubrova), an icing on the cake, Labin konti, and other towns around Labin. During that same trip, we also visited Postojinska Jama, Lipice and we are the first ever emigrant group who visited the beautiful island of Brijuni.

With time, our group became regular part of a program not only in our own Rudar Club, as well as other Croatian organizations and clubs in the New York area. Perhaps one of the most special performances we had was during the opening ceremonies of the 1986 Olympics in Sarajevo, when we performed in the old PAN AM building, since PAN AM airways was the official carrier during the 1986 Olympics. Besides those, our other performances included the Astoria Alive Festival at the UN, as well as concerts organized in contribution with "Jadranski Sustreti".

Change of generation and a big tragedy that effected us greatly, the group stopped functioning in 1989. In mid 90’s, once again a group was formed due to the organization by Mario Frankovic. Choreographers at that time were Zdenka Krsulja and Sabrina Drazic, and once again accompanied by Mene Milevoj and Marko Pacic.

In 1995 Folklore Group "Rudar" continued the Istrian folklore tradition with new performers and committee members. New committee members included Mario and Anita Frankovic, Zdenka Krsulja, Viviana Knapic along with the original dancers, Sabrina Drazic, Edi Verbanac and Natalie Verbanac. Renato Rajkovic led the children with the traditional Istrian songs. Dinko Milevoj continued the tradition playing the pipes and Marco Pacic played the keyboard.

Again, over 36 children, ages ranging 5 to 18 were invited to perform on numerous occasions and festivities at Most Precious Blood Church, Sv. Cirila i Metoda Church, Leonard’s of New York, Cleveland, Toronto, Croatian Children’s and Youth Festivals in New York, however, speaking with them, you will find out the biggest thrill they received was when they performed in many cities throughout Istra in 2000.

Istra, 2000 motivated some older members to form a group which was led by Zdenka Krsulja. They, too, had many successful performances throughout New York and Cleveland but the one performance they will always treasure is in the summer of 2003 when the group was invited to perform for the opening of the new mammogram machine in Labin at Dom Zdravlja.

Our youngest performers, ages ranging 5 to 9, met every Saturday morning practicing with their teachers Evelina Licul and Helena Jakovcic. Along with the performances throughout the year, the arrival of Santa Claus at Rudar club was their most anticipating performance. Many tears of happiness shed while this young group entertained us.

Presently, Sandra Brnjac, Flavia Ardalic and Sabrina Germin are the commettee members of the Folklore Group "Rudar". They, along with the present performers, invite all who are interested in dancing the Istrian "Balon" and other traditional dances to come and join them. You may see them at practice in Rudar club every Tuesday night between the hours of 6:00pm-8:00pm.

Our current group consists of 14 members who meet once per week in our Rudar Club. With singing and dancing we maintain a long tradition of Labin and Istrian Folklore, under the leadership of Sandra Brnjac, Flavija Ardelic and Sabrina Germin.

In addition to folklore dancing, we formed a young singing group, who for the last few years appeared on the competition portion as well as the show program of the Croatian Children’s Festival in New York. A pride to the Club, they have won several first, second and third place awards. They have appeared on HRT (Croatian Television) as well as interviews on several local Istrian radio stations. Today, their songs can be heard on the radio all over our lovely Istra. Those young singers are, Stephanie Goglia, Alexandra Kirsic, Jessica Knapic, Michael Matosic and Stephanie Verbanac.

Rudar Club Folklore, through the years

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